Square Announces New Mobile Payment Feature

Maeghan Ouimet is a business and culture reporter whose work has appeared in Boston Magazine and Rolling Stone. She covers technology start-ups and innovations from the San Francisco bureau for Inc.com.

Square’s flagship product, the Square Card Reader, will get an update Wednesday to deliver what the company says is the No. 1 requested feature by its merchants: a secure way for multiple employees to process transactions on behalf of the business.

With so many small businesses operating with mobile workforces--think restaurants with food delivery personnel or the local plumber who comes to your door--this new feature will be yet another way Square aims to partner with its growing clientele of small-to-medium businesses. The company says that more than 2 million individuals and businesses now accept payments via Square and tens of thousands of Square merchants accept payments on three or more devices. Square spokesman Aaron Zamost says this new feature is important for any service that directly serves its customers.

“Square is growing and the businesses using Square are growing,” Zamost says. “This feature is an important way to address the growth of the small business infrastructure.”

The main benefit of the new feature is that companies will no longer have to give secure information to employees so that they can use the Square reader. Now, managers can go to their account’s Business Settings and send invitations to up to 50 staff members, securely connecting the account, and route the payments employees collect directly to the business’s bank account.

“We’re providing owners with a greater level of control,” Zamost says. “Any way we can empower small business owners is a win for us.”